Texas Women Reclaim Top Spot in Division I National Team Rankings

NEW ORLEANS – After a two-week demotion to the No. 2 spot in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Division I National Team Computer Rankings, preseason women’s favorite Texas is back on top.

Women’s Top Five

The Longhorns reclaimed the No. 1 position from four-time defending NCAA indoor champion Oregon by the narrowest of margins, edging ahead of the idle Ducks by just over one point in the team rankings scores.

Little changed in the men’s top 10, with each of the top nine teams remaining stationary from a week ago.

Change, however, is all but certain for next week’s edition of the rankings as the preseason marks from 2013 used in determining team scores through this week will be removed from consideration. Beginning next week, only marks from the current season will be considered.

For Texas’ women (171.39 team rankings score), a trio of top-10 performances at New Mexico were the catalysts behind the move back to No. 1. Pole vaulter Kaitlin Petrillose took over the collegiate lead in her signature event, while sprinters Morolake Akinosun and Courtney Okolo improved to No. 4 at 60 meters and No. 2 at 400 meters, respectively.

Oregon (170.24) was idle this past weekend.

Texas’ in-state rival, Texas A&M, remained steady at No. 3 but improved its team score by 14 points to 165.97 to jump into the conversation atop the rankings. Thrower Brea Garrett, who took the collegiate lead in the weight throw, was the main factor in driving up the Aggies’ team score.

Led by National Athlete of the Week Dezerea Bryant, Kentucky (95.45) moved up a spot to No. 7, while No. 8 Providence (90.48) joined the top 10 with a four-spot improvement behind the nation’s top two runners at 3000 meters in Emily Sisson and Laura Nagel.

No. 9 Stanford (89.35) dropped two spots and No. 10 LSU (61.55) fell one to round out the top 10.

No. 20 Akron and No. 23 Arizona both made eight-slot improvements from a week ago to headline the biggest movers in the women’s rankings.

As with the women, Akron was again the biggest gainer in the men’s rankings this week with an 11-position improvement to No. 21. No. 18 LSU and No. 24 Southern California also made impressive gains of 10 spots and nine spots, respectively.

The national team rankings will be complied by mathematical formulae based on national descending order lists and data taken from previous seasons. For the preseason ranking and early-season rankings, data will be taken from previous seasons as well as the current season.

The purpose and methodology of the rankings is to create an index that showcases the teams that have the best potential of achieving the top spots in the national team race. Rankings points do not equate with NCAA Championships team points. A full description of the rankings can be found here.

The USTFCCCA National Team Computer Rankings should not be referred to as a “poll” as no voting occurs during the process.